Mar 26, 2016While an analysis of the Maharashtra budget by social sector organization Jaganyachya Hakkache Andolan showed massive cuts in budgetary allocations to sectors such as health, education and nutrition, state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar insists there are no substantial cuts in social sector budgets, adding that money would be allocated to these sectors later on in the year.

Mar 7, 2016In 1980, battered housewives from the city with only an SSC certificate by way of qualification and three children to raise, rarely walked out of a violent marriage. But 36 years ago, a young woman called Flavia Agnes just had had enough.

Feb 25, 2016No Indian law specifically deals with ‘khatna’, the Bohra word for circumcision. But lawyers and women’s rights activists say there is no need for a new law on FGM in India, as it can be written into existing laws.

Feb 22, 2016A hundred years ago, the 1,400 km journey from Kerala's Nurani village to Mumbai was particularly arduous. But that did not stop them. Today, there are more Nuranis in Mumbai than the population of Nurani itself. As diasporas go, this one is minuscule; barely 4,000 in Mumbai. But you won't find more Nuranis anywhere else in India.

Feb 7, 2016A 62-year-old lawyer settled in Canada chokes with emotion every time she recalls the day, over half a century ago, when she was pinned down by two women in a dark room in Bhindi Bazaar’s Bohri mohalla, while a midwife circumcised her. The procedure, known as khatna, is prevalent among Dawoodi Bohras. “I was a feisty kid and put up quite a struggle at the time,” says Dilshad Tavawalla. She recollects little of what happens next, fainting with pain during the procedure. She could barely walk when it was over. She returned home in a ghoda-gaadi that stopped at a toy store near Crawford Market where relatives bought her a green tin tea set to mollify her.

Feb 5, 2016 Aarefa Johari was seven when she was taken to a dingy building in Bhendi Bazaar for an appointment with a woman she did not know. Her frock was pulled up. Her mother told her that something would happen to her “down there” that would only take a minute. In hindsight, she’s thankful for what little preparation she received before her “khatna”, the word Bohras use for circumcision. The procedure fits the World Health Organization’s definition of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).